One-Time Mythical Pokemon in Pokemon GO
Mythical Pokemon are weird. They’re simply not like other Pokemon. The vast majority of Pokemon are caught within games of Pokemon, whether it’s the original Red and Blue, current generation 8 Pokemon or even side games like Pokemon GO and Snap. However, with mythical Pokemon, it really does depend. Many Mythical Pokemon are somewhat withheld from normal, natural gameplay. Instead, they are given away as promos and prizes in various events.
This can make filling a Pokedex a tad tricky and awkward to do. But, luckily, with Pokemon Home and Pokemon Go, you can much more easily catch Mythical Pokemon. At the very least, we have the ability to complete special research in Pokemon GO and get the Mythical Pokemon. Only then you can transfer it to Pokemon Home, where we can do what we want with it.
Unfortunately, on Pokemon Go’s side, getting a Mythical (at least, the small, cute ones) is somewhat time consuming, and you only ever have one shot at it.
2-Star Mythicals, all the time
So you finish your special research, some of which can take a long, looong time. Then you get your reward, a Mythical Pokemon. But you have to catch it first, and the game often forces you into AR mode as well. Luckily, they are guaranteed catches, but you’re not always allowed berries and Pokeballs. The Mythical will always catch on the third Pokeball thrown, and everything is pretty consistent.
However, something that isn’t consistent is the Pokemon’s stats. Just like all other research Pokemon, your Mythical can be anywhere from 67% to 100%. I think you can guess what most people get.
When it comes to the Mythical Pokemon I have, most of them are 2-starred, or only just a 3-star. The shiny Mew I have from the Kanto event? It’s a two-star, probably around the 75% range. The same thing happened with with most of my other mythical Pokemon. Victini, Celebi and shiny Celebi, Meloetta and Zarude all have really underwhelming stats, considering the work required to get them. My shiny Mew is by far the worst one, because the steps required to do it were incredibly long.
No chance to try again.
Normally, I’d say “just go catch another one”, but in this instance, it is impossible. You get one shot at these Pokemon and if you get a bad roll, well, there’s nothing you can do. It’s not even possible to TRADE these Pokemon, because they’re Mythical.
However, not all Mythicals are one-and-done. Deoxys and Darkrai are both mythical Pokemon. But instead of doing quests for them, we just do raids instead. Much easier than getting 400 candy for a Gyarados, spending ages looking for a Kabuto or, well, doing 5 raids. While the requirements for getting newer Mythical Pokemon are genuinely easier, the real reward, the Pokemon itself, can be very disappointing indeed. Why is it so difficult to get a cute Pokemon with good stats?
On top of all that, some of these Mythical Pokemon are pretty good. Deoxys’s forms are desirable for PvP and we could raid for more of those (at least, while it was around). At the same time, Darkrai is among the best Dark types. More annoyingly though, Zarude, the most recent Mythical to be released, is the best grass type in Pokemon GO right now. However, it can be disheartening that we’ll probably never get a second Zarude, while your first Zarude has the same IVs as something caught in the wild.
Maybe just make them guaranteed 3-star Pokemon?
Honestly though, the solution here is really simple. The ability to reroll stats is potentially a tricky or even dangerous one. One could spend huge amounts of resources, gambling their way to a better Pokemon. While the main games do have some potential way of changing stats, none of them would work well in Pokemon GO’s format. I mean, we already have a ton of items, we don’t need bottle caps or whatever as well.
However, a really quick solution would be to just make all Mythicals at least a 3-star. Because while 2-star stats are kinda meh, people are much happier to see a 3-star Pokemon than they are a lower one. Sure, it might mean that 100% Pokemon are easier to obtain. But if we can only ever get one, and can never trade them, then a few extra hundos won’t do anything to the game…